English 113.3 Short Stories: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

How does teh narrator's description of the wallpaper change over time? How is the wallpaper representative of the domestic sphere?

At the start of the story the wallpaper makes her feel less well. She feels that the pattern is confusing/frustrating and that the colour is abominable. That she is stuck in this room but glad her baby doesn't have to be in that room as well. Although as the story progresses the wallpaper makes her better because it gives her something to focus on as a distraction. It provides her with an imaginative outlet. Her husband didn't allow her to occupy different rooms and didn't allow her to have visitors if she wanted. Male imposes their will on the female as a wife, mother and cook. The culture is that men control the public sphere of work and women are private bound to make the home as pleasant as possible. They are supposed to have a happy exterior like the wallpaper yet it covers the pain she has of not being able to take care of the home and her baby.

What did you enjoy (or hate) most about The Yellow Wallpaper? Why?

I was so frustrated with her character. She accepts her domineering relationship and puts the collar on herself. She is smart, a writer yet can't see how her story will end if she is hiding who she truly is? Perhaps think of ways/alternatives rather than staring at a wallpaper and submissively accepting whatever her husband throws at her. However I know the things that she should've done she couldn't because of how the depression was making her mental state and how ingrained all social responsibility were at the time.

Do you care about the characters? Do you like (or dislike) them? How real (or well-developed) do they seem to you?

I don't personally care about any of the characters but the women makes me think. Besides her all the other characters are flat. He world may be flat but her personality is constantly influx. The wife is the most developed as we can know what she is thinking and the other characters are flat like the husband and the nurse, and sister-in-law. Not much is spoken in how they think its just what they do that the reader must question.

How does the narrator's relationship with the husband evolve/change? Does her mental state improve or worsen?

It changes as she becomes more self aware. The times she spending thinking and writing and looking at the wallpaper changes her outlook on things. She is sarcastic and questions what her husband says but doesn't want to displease them. She starts to be more duplicitous and goes out at night, rips up the wallpaper and doesn't act how she feels. Her mental state worsens as she embraces the irrational which some feminists would call her a hero for doing.

Why does the narrator say: "what can one do?" How does that statement represent her state of mind?

It is sarcastic implying her husband is far more intelligent that she is. Yet also represents her resignation that she has no control over her own treatment beside being rebellious when no one is watching. As the story progresses it's clear she is conflicted with wanting to listen to her husband and needing an imaginative outlet which she finds through her journal and the wallpaper. Both of which her husband doesn't or would't find beneficial so she is constantly in a state of anxiety of being caught or of letting anyone down.

Does The Yellow Wallpaper end the way you expected?

No thought she might hang herself with the roe, references to standing on stuff as well. Why does it end the way it does? Distressing as the conflict is not entirely resolved. She is crawling, circling around the room at the end. So she is out of the wallpaper but now stuck in a room. Also the husband faintly when ironically only women are supposed to faint. That although she may have lost her mind to escape, all other women are still stuck.

Why does Charlotte Perkins Gilman change the point of view? Is it an effective technique?

Originally the point of view was that there was a women behind the wallpaper, to many women trying to escape until the wife says she was behind the wallpaper. It shoes the state of society that women can escape their labels as wife and mother only at night. It is effective as the wife now sees and understand her situation of male oppression that she must save herself first before she can begin to free those other women.

Could the story have taken place elsewhere (or at a different time)? Why does the narrator live in a "colonial mansion"?

Perhaps not today institutionally but yes it could happen behind closed doors. Traditional values of the family of who holds power and gender roles of the household are still very relevant today. Colonial mansion implies the "opportunity" that the wealthy and high class have to show that the wife has been owed/colonized by the husbands predominant worldview/culture. To show off that they should not lift a finger not taking considerations to show that maybe it would be good for her if she did but that they are well off and its of their station not to have her lift a finger.

How does Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveal character in The Yellow Wallpaper?

She does this indirectly, like a play you have to figure out who they are in accordance to the events in the story.

Why is The Yellow Wallpaper sometimes considered essential reading in Feminist Literature? What are the qualities that make it representative?

Still today its history reflects how we behave today. The gender roles, gender bias in wage gaps, less women in certain careers like politics.

What is important about the title, The Yellow Wallpaper?

That it describes something innocuous. Begs the question of what could be so important about something as inane as wall decor? Could possibly trick the reader into believing the story is about something positive with a female audience intended as they are stereo-typically associated with colour palettes and decoration and things.

Why do you think Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper"? Consider that the story was based on personal experience.

The author herself went through post partem depression and wants to have a larger awareness of what it looks life and share what she went through. To also show the plight women go through that exacerbated their condition because they don't get the proper help they need.

What are the conflicts in The Yellow Wallpaper? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual or emotional) did you notice? Is the conflict resolved?

The conflict in the story is to figure out what is wrong with her and to enact the proper treatment to make her better. Physical would be her lack of energy, moral would be her duties in the victorian era as mother/wife, intellectually she is a writer and since she is not able to write she finds freedom in a secret journal and the wallpaper and her emotional conflict is the biggest of finding her own identity and recognizing her plight and how she can get out or listening to her husband and trying to ignore all that is affecting her in order to get better even though it is making her worse. Her personal conflict in the big picture is resolved in that she believes she is out of the wallpaper but her power position has costed her, her mind so in actuality there is no conflicts at all in her mind because she cannot think clearly anymore. Yet although she may have thought herself free, all other women are still trapped in their roles.

What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single/independent women? What is important about women-in the historical context?

The role of the women in the text is to be a good wife and listen to everything your husband tells you. To be obedient and never question anything. Mothers are represented at women who don't have to much of the child rearing as that is the nurse maids job. Single women are meant to have gender specific jobs like nurses or teachers. What is important about women in the historical context is that they implicate themselves by agreeing to these certain roles.

What are some themes in The Yellow Wallpaper? Symbols? How do they relate to the plot and the characters?

Theme is that women (even today) must cover up their identities to fit in with society's roles for them as wife, mother, cook, cleaner, car driver, etc. That we must be vigilant in questioning the ideals of society that everyone must have equality for if they don't craziness will ensue. Symbols: the bed: no excitement, only a procreative function (was nailed down chained a mother's role), wallpaper: tears down the wallpaper, represents the things holding women back from being free, the window bars, control over women, the moon: that she is able to be herself and come out at night & that all the moon does is reflects the suns (husband/male) light

How does the colour "yellow" affect you? Do you like (or dislike) it? What are the psychological implications of the colour "yellow"?

Yellow is a fairly positive colour and makes me happy reminiscent of the sun or flowers. Yet ironically yellow is a colour I least enjoy or associate with as it is too bright a colour to wear as clothes. Psychological implications of the colour is the sun, healthy, happy, or sickness in jaundice